Our Daily Bread

Autumn is here and “the weather” is officially transitioning into a new gap — a “fortunate combination” of longer nights, shorter days, weaker sunshine, and cooler breezes. The sun has lost some of its edge and the sunsets are migrating south — streaking the sky with their palette of perfection.

I sometimes wonder how so many days can slip by me with so little recall of significant events. Perhaps this is nature’s way of easing me into a new gap of deliberate appreciation. The inevitable onset of winter has a way of doing this for me. I start to think about doing some preliminary wood splitting and tarp the woodpiles for the oncoming rainy season. I check to see if I am stocked with matches and newspaper for fire starting. There are fewer dragonflies motoring through the ocean of sky in the late afternoons and more deer moving through the yard. There is just something about this time of year that gives me a pinch and reminds me to appreciate, appreciate, appreciate.

“All in all, it was a never to be forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” — L.M. Montgomery, Anne’s House of Dreams